Conveyer.



C. W. LEVALLEY.

coNvBYBR. APPLOATION FILED NOV. 28, 1908.

Patented June 4, 1912.'

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Wim/ESSE COLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH cu.. wAsHlNnroN. D. c.

G. W. LEVALLEY.

GONVEYEE.

APPLIOATION FILE-D Nov. 2a, 1908.

Patented June 4, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. W. LEVALLEY.J

OONVEYBR. I

APPLIGAHON FILED Nov. za, 190s.

Patented June 4, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

[Nl/ENTOR W [TNESSES lao .. or approximately'so, and the axes of articufCHRISTOPHER W. LEVALLEY, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

GONVEYER.

Patented June 4, 1912.

Application filed November 28, 1908. Serial No. 464,970.r

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I,v` CHRISTOPHER W'. LEVALLEY, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State ofWisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in and Relatingto'Conveyers, of which the following is a specification. y

My invention relates to conveying apparatus and is directed particularlyto the production of a conveyer that is especially adapted for use inthe making of pies in large bakeries, 'although it is adapted for manyvother uses, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

- In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a practical form ofthe invention, referring to which,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a conveyer embodying my improvements;Fig. 2 isa side elevation of the same, lparts being broken away; Fig. 3is a transverse section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a central,longitudinal, vertical sectional view taken through one end of theconveyer.

The conveyer is of the endless variety and comprises'a pair of wheels 22 about which passes an endless belt 3. The conveyer is in substantiallya horizontal plane, that is to say, the aXes of the wheels arevert-ical,

lation of the belt 3, when that is in the form of a sprocket chain, asrepresented in the present instance, are also vertical. lIhen theconveyer belt is of sprocket chain construction at least one of thewheels, 2 2',

should be a sprocket wheel and be connected with a suitable drivingmechanism. I

have represented the wheel 2 as the driv-` ing wheel and as beingconnected with a 1 driving rshaft 4 which 'extends upward therefrom,being mounted at its upper end in a bracket 5 and provided with a wormwheel 6 with which meshes a worm 7 on the shaft 8, to which power isapplied from any suitable'motor. This form of driving gear is adoptedwhen it is desired thatthe conveyer should have a slow motion, as is thecase when it is used to convey pies. The parts thus fargenerally-described may be of any usual or preferred construction.

I prefer for purposes that will be hereinafter explainedthat the `wheels2 2 should be in the form of disks having plane upper surfaces extendingfromV ytheir hubs to or nearly to their peripheries. Y

'ing position.

The wheels 2 2l are supported at the upper ends of standards or columns9 which are ordinarily arranged to rest upon the flooring and to be of aheight to bring the horizontal conveyerto aconvenient work- In the upperend of each standard there is formed a socket l0 into which extends ashort shaft 11 that is keyed to the wheel. .The hub 12 of the wheel 2 issomewhat elongated and receives the lower end of the driving shaft 4,such shaft- `being independent of the shaft 11 and the adjacent ends ofthese two shafts being siturangement is found to be desirable when theconveyer is supported upon one Hoor and the driving gearing .issupported from another floor, as is represented in the drawings, as thechange in floor levels is compensated for by this'slip joint and theworking 'of the conveyer is not thereby impaired.

As already stated, the endless belt of the Conveyer is formedof'articulated sprocket links, and certain of these, as everysiXth one,are formed with att-aching means, which are represented as being` in theform of transversely arranged plates 14. To these plates are attachedcross bars l5, to the ends of which are secured -the supports for the`articles to be conveyed. When such articlesv are pie-plates, asrepresented in the drawings, each support consists of a pair'of crossedbars 16 having their ends turned up,

as at 17, to form retaining means for holding the plates. I prefer thateach platevholder should rest above the bar 15 so that the over-hangingpie crust` shall not come in engagement with any part of the conveyor,as is represented in Fig. 2, to secure which result I mount theplate-holders on risers or standards 1S.

Should the pie crust be trimmed off before the plates are put upon 4 theconveyer, this elevating of each of the plate-holders would not be soimportant, though it would still be -of advantage ybecause it would givethe-workmen more freedom in placing and removing the pie-plates.y

As represented in Fig. 1, the cross bars 15 are arranged at suchdistances apart as will bring the pie-plates close together edge t-oedgewhen moving along iaistraight run of the conveyer. From this itfollows that when a portion o-f the conveyer passes one of the turningwheels, those plates that are supported by the inner extending arms vofthe cross bars 15 'will be brought closer together and would interfereone with another if all were arranged in the same horizontal plane. Toprevent this result vI mount the alternate plate supports in differenthorizontal planes so that when passing the turning wheels they mayoverlap, as shown in Fig. 1, without interfering with each other. Thisresult is secured by making certain of the standards for the supportshigher than others, the higher set being designated 18.

In order to impartfsteadiness to the conveyer and to insure that itshall be main-k tained in a practical horizontal position throughout itsentire run, I provide means for supporting and steadying the outer endsof the cross bars 15. Vhile this result could be attained in many ways,I have adopted a very simple expedient which consists in turning downthe outer ends of the cross bars, as indicated at 19, and causing themto run in engagement with supporting rails 20. These rails arepreferably of angular form in cross section, the vertical portions 21 ofsuch angular rails constituting guards that tend to prevent the clothingof the workmen or other objects getting into the path of the cross bars15. Along each straight run of the conveyer there are two of thesesupporting rails, an outside and an inside one. Where the pathI of theconveyer curves in passing one of the turning wheels I empl-oy only anoutside rail, which I designate 22. In using bars 15 that extend acrossthe belt,- both inward and outward, which is manifestly the mostdesirable arrangement, it is apparent that only the outside ends of thebars can be supported upon a trac'k that is a continuation of one of thestraight tracks 20, as the turning wheel is in the path vof the innertrack.l However, by making 'the upper face of each turning wheel planeand disposing it in the horizontal plane of the inner track 20 I utilizesuch face as a support for the inner ends of the l`cross bars, thekdown-turned ends 19 of the cross bars resting upon the wheel as theconveyer passes it.

In order to support and sustain the laterally vextending bars 15 asdescribed, it is desirable that they should be arranged in a, commonhorizontal plane; and to prevent them from interfering .one with anotherwhile passing the turning wheels of the apparatus they are maderelatively narrow. There must necessarily be a space between the end ofthe inner rail 20 and the upper plane face of the sprocket wheel, equalat least in distance to the Width rof the sprocket teeth; In order tobridge this space and prevent the inner ends 19 of the cross bars fromcatching upon the sprocket teeth or against the periphery of the wheel Iemploy bridge pieces 23. The ends of these bridge pieces that lie overthe wheel are beveled or turned down and lie close to the upper facethereof so that the cross bars pass `smoothly and easily over the bridgepiece and on to the wheel on one side of the conveyer and from the wheelover the .bridge to the inner rail o n the other side.

The rails 20 are supported by standards 24 formed at their upperV endswith cross arms 25 to which the rails are directly se- 1 cured. Theinner arms 25 of the standards next to the wheels are utilized assupports for the bridge pieces 23; Y Y

Near the upper end of the columns or standards 9, upon which the turningwheels are mounted, and directly below such wheels, are supported thespiders 26, on the outer ends of the arms of'which areY supported thecurved rails 22. Each spider is formed with a hub portion 27 that isadapte ed to fit a. reduced cylindrical part 28 of a column and restupon a shoulder 29 there# of. Each column 9 is formed with a base plateor foot 30 that rests in a shoe-plate 31 secured to the floor. Thelattery is provided with guide-ribs 32 by which the'foot of the columnis 'conned' One of the parts, either the shoe-plate. or the foot of lthecolumn, is provided with slots and the other with holes through whichthe connecting l'.

bolts 33 are passed, this arrangement permitting the longitudinaladjustment `of the end portion-wheel and curved trackof the conveyer inorder to take up the slack which may come from the wearing of the il? lparts or stretching of the belt.

I have shown a form of conveyer in which the two straight runs are asclose together as is practicable. They might, however, be

separated if the apartment in which the if conveyer is used be of Vasize vand shape to make this desirable.V In such case more than twoturning wheels would be employed, as is apparent without further eX-planation.

What I claim is:

1. In a conveyer, the combination of an endless driven belt, a series ofnarrow bars disposed in a common horizontal plane and a series ofsupports for the material to be conveyed carried by the said bars andarranged alternately in different horizontal planes, whereby thesupports are allowed to overlap, substantially as set forth.

2. In a conveyer, the combination of an Y.

endless driven belt disposed in a horizontal plane, narrow bars carriedthereby and eX- tending laterally outward from the line of conveyer, andsupports' for the material-to be conveyed carried by 'said bars thanwhich f7.9

they are broader and arranged `alternately in. higher and lowerhorizontal planes, substantially as set forth.

3. In a horizontal conveyer, the combination of an endless driven belt,turning wheels around which the belt passes supported on vertical axes,cross supports for the material to be conveyed secured to the belt,supporting and steadying tracks for the cross supports arranged betweenthe turning wheels, such wheels being also ar- 10 ranged to support andsteady the cross supports as they pass 'around the wheels, and bridgepieces between the tracks and the turnlng wheels, substantially as setforth.

CHRISTOPHER W. LEVALLEY. Witnesses:

VLASTA I. KLOFANDA, W. C. SARGENT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

